Kate Koval will play for Baylor after receiving an NCAA transfer waiver last week, the university announced Saturday. Baylor has not confirmed whether the 6-foot-5 center can compete immediately because classes at the school began in late August.
Koval, who is from Kyiv, Ukraine, left LSU after the program added Anna Minaeva, a Russian player who had competed professionally in Moscow. Koval’s father serves in the Ukrainian military. Her decision came after the transfer portal had closed, leading her to ask the NCAA publicly for permission to move to another school.
In a social media post, Koval described the war in Ukraine as a personal matter. “People close to me have been killed and wounded in Russian attacks, and places where I grew up and first began playing basketball have been destroyed by missile strikes,” she wrote.
NCAA regulations allow transfers outside sport-specific windows when an event beyond an athlete’s control, unrelated to athletic opportunities or participation at the current school, requires the athlete to leave immediately. The source report was published by nytimes.com.
Koval is joining a Baylor team undergoing a roster overhaul before coach Nicki Collen’s sixth season in Waco. The Bears went 25-9 last season and did not experience major transfer-portal departures, but four starters graduated. Baylor had already signed three transfers besides Koval and did not bring in a freshman recruiting class.
